The Sudang Foundation (Chairman: Sang-ha Kim) announced Prof. Chin Ha Chung of Seoul National University, Prof. Jung Ho Je of POSTECH, and Emeritus Prof. Dae-seok Seo of Seoul National University as the recipients of the 24th Sudang Award. In honor of Samyang Group founder Yeon-su Kim and his intention to develop the Korean industry and nurture talents, the Sudang Award was established in 1973 and has been presented to outstanding experts in basic science, applied science and humanities and social science.

Prof. Chin Ha Chung has led research on breakdown and modification of proteins and discovered a breast and skin cancer repressor protein, and his research has been highly appreciated. Prof. Jung Ho Je, the recipient for applied science, used X-ray imaging and has contributed to advancing the level of domestic research to a world-leading level in hydro- and fluid-dynamics. Prof. Dae-seok Seo, the prize winner for humanities and social science, has established methodologies for studying oral literature and mythology and been credited with promoting Korean Studies and Korean culture world-widely.

The Sudang Foundation announced on the 7th that it held the 24th Sudang Award Ceremony in the Lotte Hotel located in Eulji-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul, and presented 100 million won of prize money and an award plaque to each of the three award winners.

The Sudang Foundation is currently chaired by Sang-ha Kim, the chairman of Samyang Group.

▣ Prof. Jong-Lam Lee: Presidential Prize in Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of Invention Day (The Inventor of This Year)

“The Inventor of This Year Prof. Jong-Lam Lee of POSTECH finds a way to provide electricity to secluded villages with solar panels.”

Prof. Jong-Lam Lee was designated as The Inventor of This year and received a presidential prize on the 19th at the ceremony of the 50th anniversary of Invention Day held by Korean Intellectual Property Office and Korea Invention Promotion Association.

Prof. Lee developed extreme flat metal substrate technology for the first time in the world, and the new technology is essential to produce flexible displays and has laid a foundation for the commercialization of next-generation electronic products. Korean Intellectual Property Office and Korea Invention Promotion Association explained that Prof. Lee had constantly developed core technologies for flexible transparent electrodes and electronic devices, registered a number of patents including 61 domestic patents and 10 international patents over the recent five years, and made a significant contribution to raising technological competitiveness in high-efficiency LED devices.

The flexible display technology is the most sought-after in the electronics industry producing smartphones and TVs. To make flexible displays, substrates need to be made of flexible materials. Thin glass, plastic, and stainless steel have been usually considered as materials for substrates. Glass is currently used for substrates in curved displays, but it is easily broken. Plastic is sturdier than glass, but it is likely to be transformed by heat and absorbs moisture requiring waterproofing.

Prof. Lee’s team focused on stainless steel and succeeded in developing a technology to reduce the surface flatness of metal substrates to less than 1㎚ (one in a billionth meter). With the novel technology, the 100 kg weight of a 1KW solar panel can be reduced by one-tenth. He said, “Of seven billion people all over the world, about two billion people live without electricity. I hope to present light to those who live in backwoods without electricity through lighter solar panels.”

Prof. Hyoung Seop Kim of POSTECH MSE was selected as the recipient of Korean Institute of Metals and Materials’ Yoon Dong Seok Award and Springer Paper Award. The Yoon Dong Seok Award was established with the donation of Yoon Dong Seok, the former chair of Korean Institute of Metals of Materials, and the fund of the academic society. The award is given to those members who accomplish great academic and technological achievements in the field of metal and materials. The Springer Paper Award is presented to those who have published the largest number of papers on the Springer’s Metals and Materials International(MMI) and Electronic Materials Letters(EML) in the name of the society’s chair.

Prof. Tae-Woo Lee received The Polymer Society of Korea’s 2015 Academic Award for Mid-Career Researcher. The award is given to excellent mid-career researchers who contribute to the advancement of Korea’s polymer science and engineering and accomplish great academic achievements. Researchers who have over seven years of research experience after receiving a Ph.D. degree and have achieved outstanding academic performance in polymer science and engineering in Korea can be recommended as candidates and a winner is selected from the candidates.

The award ceremony took place during 2015 Spring Meeting of the academic society that was held for three nights and two days from April 8 to 10 in Daejeon Convention Center.

A number of MSE students received the 21st HumanTech Paper Award presented by Samsung Electronics and sponsored by Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and Korea Joongang Daily.

The award ceremony was held at 11 am, February 11 in Samsung Electronics headquarters in Seocho-dong, Seoul.

The HumanTech Paper Award was established in 1994 to nurture creative and enterprising young talents who will lead the science and engineering community of Korea and encourage an academic and social atmosphere where research activities and technologies are considered important. A total of 7 MSE students (3 Silver Award, 2 Bronze Award, 2 Encouragement Award) were selected as the recipients of the 21-year-old award.

▣ Seul-gi Han and Myeong-hwan Shin: Selected as the Recipients of National Research Foundation of Korea’s Global Ph.D. Fellowship Program (scholarship of 30 million won)

MSE students Seul-gi Han and Myeong-hwan Shin (academic advisor: Prof. Sei Kwang Hahn) were selected as the recipients of Global Ph.D. Fellowship Program funded by National Research Foundation of Korea (affiliated with Ministry of Education, Science and Technology) and the scholarship award ceremony took place on October 14. The two students who had been studying on biomaterials were selected as great talents who would be able to contribute to science and engineering development in accordance with the criteria set out by the educational ministry. The national fellowship program provides scholarship to select graduate students in Ph.D. or MS-PhD integrated courses and the recipients are decided through two selection processes in consideration of an applicant’s creativity, problem-solving capability, leadership, presentation ability, and international communication skills.

The Ph.D. students Seung-hui Lee (academic advisor: Prof. Jong Kyu Kim), Ju-yeong Ham (academic advisor: Prof. Jong-Lam Lee), Yeong-hun Kim and Him-chan Jo (academic advisor: Prof. Tae-Woo Lee) in POSTECH Department of Materials Science and Engineering were selected as the recipients of SK Hynix Fellowship on April 29. The fellowship program was created in 2013 in endeavor to promote academia-industrial collaboration between POSTECH and SK Hynix and train great talents. Seung-hui Lee was recognized for her research theme “Two Dimensional Hexagonal Boron Nitrides based Deep Ultraviolet Emitters,” and Ju-yeong Ham for proposing a new paradigm by developing dielectric/metal/dielectric-based solar cells into dielectric/metal/polymer-based ones, and they were praised as great talents who could meet the purpose of the fellowship program.

Yeong-hun Kim and Him-chan Jo earned recognition for their research on new hybrid organic and inorganic nano-crystalline light-emitting displays and they were also named as promising researchers who could contribute to academic and technological advancement.

▣ So-yeong An: Selected as a Recipient of LG Yonam Scholarship (full tuition fees for three semesters and 300 thousand won of textbook expenses per semester)

So-yeong An in POSTECH MSE won Yonam Scholarship provided by LG Yonam Foundation.

She was selected as one of the scholarship’s recipients, as she showed great academic performance and was expected to contribute to the science and engineering communities.

Created in 1970, the Yonam Scholarship is the oldest program of the Yonam Foundation since its establishment in 1969 and supports academically-excelling graduate students who will be leading in the future.

Min-ho Park and Yeong-hun Kim in POSTECH Department of Materials Science and Engineering were included in the list of 18 recipients of Dow Chemical Korea’s Diamond Scholarship. The Dow Chemical Korea began the scholarship program in 2011 to support Korean universities and foster talents. The scholarship presentation ceremony took place on January 27 in the Dow Seoul Technology Center located in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi-do.

Seok-su Son (academic advisor: Prof. Sunghak Lee) received Best Paper Award from Korea Institute of Materials Science in February. To nurture great talents in materials science, the institute presents the award to Ph.D. candidates who have published outstanding papers in materials science. Son’s acclaimed research focused on how to reduce frailty by controlling the content of carbon, manganese and aluminum, and conditions for annealing prior to cold rolling to overcome the problem of edge-cracking caused while cold rolling in the production of lightweight steel.

▣ Seok Su Sohn: The Korean Institute of Metals and Materials’ Excellent Paper Award (50 million won for prize money)

Post-doc researcher Dr. Seok Su Sohn (academic advisor: Prof. Sunghak Lee) of POSTECH Department of Materials Science and Engineering received Excellent Paper Award from the Steel Material Committee of the Korean Institute of Metals and Materials. His research on “development of ferrite-austenite duplex lightweight steel based on TRIP/TWIP steels” was selected as the best solution for economically maximizing the strength and malleability of steel. The Steel Material Committee held a solution and idea contest to promote research on steel materials, history and technology in domestic universities and academic circles and advance technologies in steel industry. It awards Excellent and Good Paper Award to those who have suggested the most creative and applicable solutions and ideas. The award recipients are given an opportunity to conduct a joint research project with POSCO on their ideas, a certificate of award and prize money of 50 million won.

Dong-hyun An (entered MS-PhD integrated program in 2011) and Hyo-wook Park (entered Ph.D. program in 2014) were selected as the recipients of Beom Gu Award and Chang Sung Award by the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute, as they were expected to significantly contribute to the academic and technological advancement in powder metallurgy. The Beom Gu Award for Ph.D. students majoring in powder metallurgy was established with the donation from the late Prof. In-hyeong Moon and the fellows of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute recommend the recipients. The Chang Sung Award was established by Chang Sung Corporation and is awarded to new members who are still students or have received a degree within three years and have published notable papers as lead author. The award ceremony took place in November during the 2015 Fall Academic Conference and Regular Meeting of the Institute.

MSE students Min-ki Jin, Jong-hwan Moon and Dong-hyuk Seol received the Best Design Award for university students at the 4th Expressway Design Contest held by Korea Expressway Corporation.

They suggested “Parking Spot-Signaling Lamp in Rest Areas” that is a lamp shaped in a tree and can give life to desolate rest areas. The lamp using solar panels can signal where parking spots are located and which parking spots are available. The award ceremony was held in July 22.

The 3rd Infrastructure Technology Contest was held by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and Korea Agency for Infrastructure Technology Advancement to promote creative ideas.

Domestic and international college students were eligible for the contest. A total of 92 ideas were submitted, and 10 teams including two from POSTECH MSE were honored to win a prize. The award presentation ceremony took place on June 24 during 2015 Land, Infrastructure, and Transport Technology Fair.

Dae-woong Kim, Joo-sung Kim and Ji-sung Yoo suggested “Processing System for Traffic Accidents on Bridges.” They focused on the fact that traffic accidents on bridges can’t be quickly responded to with low accessibility, suggested an idea to install a crane on both sides of a bridge, and received a special award from the president of Korea Transportation Safety Authority. The prized idea allows to secure safety for drivers and vehicles in accidents and prevent an additional accident in connection with the emergency towing service provided by the government.

Gun-hee Lee, Gil-woon Lee and Hak-hyun Lee received a special award from the CEO of K-water at the Infrastructure Technology Contest.

The team’s idea “Buffer layer for asphalt” aims to solve the problems arising from potholes on asphalt roads including safety problem, road repair cost, and environment issue of recycling used asphalt. It is expected to extend the life span of asphalt with the use of polymer buffer layer, decrease road repair cost, enhance safety with reduced cracks and potholes, and improve the environment reducing the amount of used asphalt.

Doo-yeol Lee submitted his idea “Corn Bead” and the team of Ji-hyun Moon and Seok-hyun Hong suggested “Rhinoceros Nasal Spray,” and both ideas received Best Idea Prize at the idea contest organized by Research Institute of Industrial Science Technology (RIST).

The RIST Idea Contest was held under the theme of yellow and fine dust prevention technology and product. One Grand Prize and two Best Idea Prize were awarded, and the two Best Idea Prize were all given to MSE students. Once proving the applicability and viability of their ideas, the prize recipients will be supported to build a prototype. The prize presentation ceremony took place on June 17 in the administration building of RIST.

Sung-joo Kwon exhibited an organic light-emitting diode that can be attached to human bodies with graphene electrodes at the fair and received Encouragement Award. Do-hee Geum presented her research on wearable devices in front of the audience from a variety of fields and received Best Award in recognition of her potential as the future leader of the science and technology communities.

▣ Il-hwan Lee: European Materials Research Society’s Best Poster Award

Il-hwan Lee (enrolled in Ph.D. program in 2011, academic advisor: Prof. Jong-Lam Lee) received Best Poster Award at 2015 Spring Meeting of European Materials Research Society. Il-hwan Lee significantly enhanced the light extraction efficiency by applying O2 plasma treatment to flexible OLED devices. The award is given to the best poster paper presented at the society’s meeting.

▣ Kyung-geun Lim and Ho-beom Kim: Best Poster Award from The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry

Kyung-geun Lim and Ho-beom Kim (academic advisor: Prof. Tae-Woo Lee) received Best Poster Award at the meeting of The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry on April 30.

Post-doc researcher Kyung-geun Lim focused his research on photoactive layers to electrodes for organic solar cells and was recognized as a great talent. Ho-beom Kim presented his paper “Efficient inverted organic solar cells based on graphene cathode” and was also selected as an award winner.

MSE graduate students received awards at the fall meeting of the Korean Institute of Metals and Materials held in Changwon Convention Center on April 22 to 24 for three days.

Seung-mi Baek (academic advisor: Prof. Hyoung Seop Kim) presented on “finite element method for R-value of multi-layered insulation,” and showed how formability could change compared to single- and double-layered insulation through finite element method. Jae-ik Youn (academic advisor: Prof. Hyoung Seop Kim) suggested a way to measure the properties of a material without the destruction of a specimen through his research on “strain rate sensitivity of AZ31 Mg alloy through instrumented indentation method and finite element method.” Both students received Poster Award.

Min-ju Kang (academic advisor: Prof. Sunghak Lee) received Best Paper Award with her paper on “cold forging based on SHPB” at the symposium on materials, components and reliability held during the meeting of the institute. Post-doc researcher Chang-woo Jeon (academic advisor: Prof. Sunghak Lee) submitted his work titled “Novel Lamellar Cleavage pattern in Ti-based Amorphous Alloy” and received Materials Photo Award (Encouragement Award).

Kyung-geun Lim (academic advisor: Prof. Tae-Woo Lee) delivered a presentation on his paper titled “Study for Energy Tailoring of Self-Organized HELs (SOHELs) to Midgap States of Perovskite and Boosting the Power Conversion Efficiency of Perovskite Solar“ during 2015 Spring Academic Conference of The Korean Physical Society, and won Best Student Presentation Award.

Lim was selected for the excellence of his research on the development of efficient perovskite solar cells.

▣ Ho-seok Heo: Best Poster Award from Materials Research Society

Ho-seok Heo (in Ph.D. program, academic advisor: Prof. Moon-Ho Jo) won Best Poster Award at the spring meeting of Materials Research Society held in San Francisco with his paper titled "Rotation-Misfit-Free Heteroepitaxial Stacking and Stitching Growth of Hexagonal Transition-Metal Dichalcogenide Monolayers by Nucleation Kinetics Controls.“ Materials Research Society holds meetings twice per year since its establishment in 1973. The society is one of the most important academic societies that share advanced research outcomes and set future directions greatly influencing the materials science communities. This meeting took place for five days from April 6 to 10 in San Francisco.

▣ Do-hee Geum and Byung-woo Hwang: Best Presentation Award and Best Paper Award from The Korean Society of Biomaterials

Do-hee Geum and Byung-woo Hwang (academic advisor: Sei Kwang Hahn) won Best Presentation Award and Best Paper Award respectively at the fall meeting of The Korean Society of Biomaterials. Do-hee Geum built a hybrid endoscope for cancer diagnosis using micro-needles and Byung-woo Hwang focused his research on tissue engineering. They were all recognized for their active research activities and potential as leading researchers in future.

▣ Sung-joo Kwon and Tae-hee Han: Best Poster Award and Best Presentation Award from Korea Graphene Research Society

Sung-joo Kwon and Tae-hee Han (academic advisor: Prof. Tae-Woo Lee) won Best Poster Award and Best Presentation Award respectively on March 27 at the 2nd Korean Graphene Symposium held by Korea Graphene Research Society.

The Best Poster by Sung-joo Kwon is titled “Air-stable graphene doping with erflourinated polymeric acid for organic light-emitting diode,” and deals with air-stable graphene doping and enhancement of graphene’s work function and conductivity.

▣ Cha-dol Oh: Best Poster Award at The 23rd Symposium on Dielectric Properties

Cha-dol Oh (academic advisor: Prof. Junwoo Son) received Best Poster Award at the 23rd Symposium on Dielectric Properties and the 15th Workshop on Ferroelectric Devices/Materials. The poster paper by Cha-dol Oh was titled “Metal-insulator transition in NdNiO3 by hydrogen doping” and recognized for discovering a conductor-nonconductor transition for the first time in NdNiO by hydrogen doping.

MSE students won POSTECH Founder’s Award, Hogil Kim Award and Jang Geun Soo Paper Award at the commencement held on January 13 in the POSTECH gymnasium, and received congratulations from the audience of 2,500 people including students, parents, faculty, and special guests.

POSTECH Founder’s award is given to the top-ranking undergraduate who is graduating summa cum laude and Hyun-sun Seo of Materials Science and Engineering won the award this year with a grade point average 4.16 out of a possible 4.3. Hogil Kim Award, the first POSTECH president’s award, is presented to a graduate who has contributed to raising the honor of and developing the university and was given to Han-jae Nam. Jang Geun Soo Paper Award for the student who wrote an excellent doctorate dissertation was given to Tae-hee Han and his dissertation on “flexible organic light-emitting diodes based on graphene electrodes.”